Be nice to people. It's the single most important thing.
Music and links from this episode
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chris_Zabriskie/2014010103336111/Chris_Zabriskie_-_Cylinders_-_09_-_Cylinder_Nine (Cylinder Nine by Chris Zabriskie)
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chris_Zabriskie/Vendaface/04_-_The_Life_and_Death_of_a_Certain_K_Zabriskie_Patriarch (The Life and Death of a Certain K. Zabriskie, Patriarch by Chris Zabriskie)
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Creo/~/Sphere (Sphere by Creo)
Line-by-line notes
INTRO
I like to give out lots of tips to designers
And generally
They just apply to being a good human as well
Today's episode definitely falls into this category
Ever since we started Genius Division
The design agency I run with a few other conspirators
We've tried to live by one mantra
Work hard and be nice to people
Yesterday was work hard
Today is be nice to people
This is AADA, and I’m Craig Burgess
PLAY MID SONG
Manners cost nothing
Good manners are your beauty
Your mood shouldn't dictate your manners
I tried to find quote about being nice too
But they were all negative
And paranoid
Nice guys always finish last
Even the nicest people have their limits
Quotes like that
There's an inherent distrust of nice people
Especially in Britain, where nobody can take a compliment
People constantly that that if you're being nice, you want something
Or there's a reason for being nice
Beyond just being nice
I absolutely don't believe nice guys finish last at all
And you shouldn't either
The whole idea of finishing last
Suggests there's an idea of success that everybody buys into
Which is just not true
Being nice is the cornerstone of everything I do
I hate it when somebody thinks otherwise of me
I hate it when I've hurt somebody or somebody is annoyed at me
In an ideal world I'd love everybody to like me
And I'm not saying that I'm an egotistical way
I mean everybody should just like everybody
There's no need for backhanded compliments
Or silly games behind people's backs
Let's just all be nice
And let's get it out of the way now
Being nice doesn't mean you're weak
Or you're a pushover
Or you let others get their own way all the time
Despite what Hollywood and TV shoves down all our throats
You can politely decline
And you don't need an argument to solve a difference of opinion
I think in the design world, being nice is especially important
The design world is still pretty small
And most people know each other
It's quite incestuous that way
So you never know when you might stumble across somebody again in a different job
I don't believe in burning bridges no matter how hard the other side might try to set it on fire
Being nice isn't trendy anymore I guess
The corporate mentality is to drop things on everybody below you and throw stones at people above you
Everybody is a target and somebody to be stepped on
But in a meritocracy
Where everybody is out to get on the next rung of the ladder
It forgets about the people
Design is all about people
It's about the people you share a studio with
It's about your clients you help create amazing work for
And it's about your peers and other people who you ask for advice from
You have to be nice to all of those people, all the time
In fact, just be nice to people
It just feels
Well
Nice
OUTRO
This was AADA. I’m Craig Burgess.
Music featured in this episode was
Cylinder Nine by Chris Zabriskie
The Life and Death of a Certain K. Zabriskie, Patriarch by Chris Zabriskie
Sphere by Creo
For a line-by-line run down of this episode, go to askadesignernaything.com/ep109
I’m back tomorrow for another episode of AADA
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